The Unleashing
by Classicgurl123
Summary: Set five years after The Children's Parade, the shadows return, only more powerful!
1. In the middle of the night

Melinda walks back into her and Jim's bedroom in the middle of the night from checking on Emily who had been sick all week, as she walks in she see's what looks like a woman sitting on Jim's side of the bed who is working a night shift "Can I help you?" she say's walking over to the bed

"Melinda" The woman says who as Melinda gets closer can see that it's Andrea

"Andrea" Melinda says turning on a bedside lamp with a shocked look on her face "What are you doing here, I havn't seen you since right after the plane crash, I thought you had crossed over"

"I did, I was sent here to protect you" Andrea says as she meets Melinda's gaze who still seems to be shocked

"Protect me from what?" Melinda says as she continues to look at her

Meanwhile down the hall Aiden is asleep when Julia and Cassidy appear on either side of his bed "Aiden" Julia says as Aiden begins to wake up

"Julia" Aiden says as he looks at her before turning to the other side of the bed "Cassidy" he says looking back and forth at the two "What's going on?" he says as the two girls look at him

"Emily" says a girl who is standing beside Emily's bed "Emily wake up" she says standing closer to the bed

"Hey Alice" Emily says waking up to see the girl, Alice had been her first ghost "Your supposed to be in the light" she says as she rubs her eyes

"What do you think your doing?" Evelyn says as her and Ray are standing in Eli's kitchen as Eli is asleep on his bed wearing his clothes from the day before

"Seeing what he has to eat" Ray says as he opens the cabinate doors "He's got to have something better then what they have on this side, haven't had a decent meal since I died"

"Because you can't scarf down those footlongs from the street cart anymore" Evelyn says with a smirk as Ray gives her a suprised look "that's right, I saw you doing that"

"Well I may have had one every now and then" Ray says as he gives her a look as he continues to look in the cabinates

"Yea like everyday for lunch" Evelyn says glaring back at him "How are you planning on eating what you find, your a ghost"

"I'll figure out a way" Ray says looking at her "And is this really the arguement we need to have right now"

"You know your right we're here for Eli" Evelyn says as she looks over toward the bed "Look how sweet he looks, do we have to wake him up?"

"Evelyn it's important, you know our directions" Ray says giving her a look "Hey I have an idea" he says moving towards the bed

"What are you getting ready to do" Evelyn ask as she follows him across the apartment

"Watch this" Ray says getting down close to Eli's head "Boo" he yells as Eli bolts straight up on the bed

"What" Eli says trying to get his barrings "Who is that, what's going on"

"Good thing is your mother can't hit me anymore" Ray says laughing as Evelyn trys to pop him in the arm

"Oh" Eli says as he relax's laying back down on the bed "It's just you guys" he says laying back on his pillow "You almost gave me a heart attack"

"It was your father's idea" Evelyn says sitting down on the bed as Ray sits down beside her

"What are you guy's doing here anyway?" Eli says as he continues to rest on the bed

The clock on the nightstand begins to play every breath you take as Dilea leans over in an attempt to cut it off as it just keeps getting louder

"What's going on" Ned says as he stands in the doorway

"I thought you were staying on campus tonight" Delia says still attempting to turn off the music

"I decided just to come home I had alot of studying to do" Ned says as he walks over to help with the clock "though I might have slept better there, there's some weird things going on in my room" he says looking as they look at each other with a knowing look

At the hospital Jim is asleep in the on call room as he hears the door open and close as he sits up some to see who it is

"Hello" he says looking into the dark "Is there someone in here?" he says before seeing his name being written on a window


	2. Return of the shadows

"So explain this to me again?" Melinda says looking at Andrea where they are now standing in the kitchen

"The shadows as they call them" Andrea says looking up noticing Melinda giving her a knowing look "their trying to comprimise the light, trying to unleash those in the light so they can feed off of us"

"I thought we were done with all of this" Melinda says as she gets a glass of water

"And it get's worse, which is why we're here" Andrea says as she looks back at Melinda "their coming back after the ones that sent them away"

"What do you mean we're here?" Melinda says looking back at her "And what your saying is that we're all in danger"

"I'm saying that it's important for you all to stick together" Andrea says as she continues to look at her "And it's not just me who is here to protect you"

"So what your saying is that the shadows are back?" Deliah says later as she sits in the kitchen along with Ned, Eli and Aiden

"Yes and I'm not clear on what they want, but it's bad enough that they are effecting those in the light and spirts have come back to protect all of us" Melinda says looking at them

"Wait you said spirt's" Deliah says looking at her "Is one attached to us" she says turning back to look at Ned then back at Melinda "some strange things were happening at the house earlier, being the reason why we were awake when you called"

"Yes Charlie's attached to you" Melinda says smiling toward the corner where Charlie is standing "But still they all seem very concerned

"And Melinda I should have mentioned this earlier" Andrea says as she appears next to Melinda "But the worse part is they are very interested in Emily, just like Aiden she has her own set of special gifts" she says as Melinda gives her a worried look "gifts that are stronger then even Aiden has, ones that could vanquish them all together, and that makes her a very big target"

"I'll go check on them" Eli says catching Melinda's glare and he pratically leaps up the stairs

"How many cups of coffee has he had?" Delia says giving a look at Melinda as she takes another sip of her coffee

"To be honest, I have lost count" Melinda says as she gives her a look back

"He reminds me of the time in college when I tried to figure out how many energy drinks I could drink" Andrea says as Melinda smiles at her "the answer is three"

"Well he get's it honest" Ray says as he appears in the kitchen "I couldn't get through the day without my coffee"

"Which is probably one of the things that lead to your heart attack" Evelyn says with a smirk as Ray gives her a look

"So Aiden and Emily are both fine, Emily is sleeping away but Aiden was awake and said he was talking to Cassidy and Julia but I didn't hear anything" Eli says as he comes into the kitchen

"Yea their two of the shines, we can't hear them" Melinda says as she looks at him "But if the shines are here then the shadows aren't far behind"

"So what are we going to do?" Eli says as he takes another sip of his coffee

"Well first of all" Melinda says as she reaches for the coffee mug "We're going to take this away from you"

"But I need this" Eli says as he holds the mug further away from her taking another sip of the coffee

"When was the last time you blinked" Melinda says as she forces the mug out of his hand and dumping it out in the sink "I'm cutting you off"

Later that morning Jim comes through the door and into the kitchen "Mel something strange happened at the hospital last night" he says walking into the kitchen to see Melinda along with Ned, Delia and Eli who are still there "What's going on?"

"You have got to be kidding me" Jim says a while later "I thought we had took care of the shadows years ago"

"Yea well so did I, but apperently their not done yet" Melinda says looking at him "I do know from experience that they strike when we're at our weakest and most vulnerable"

"And that would be when we're asleep, we can fight them off" Ned says looking at Melinda

"I think the best thing we can do is all stick together till we have a better idea of what we're dealing with" Melinda says looking at them "We have enough room that we can all stay here at night, Delia and Ned can take the garage apartment and we can set up a matress in the living room for Eli"

"Maybe we should set up the matress for Eli now" Jim says looking at Eli who has his head down on the counter

"Coming off the coffee high" Melinda says as she begins to shake Eli "don't you have a class this morning"

"Oh shot i'm late" Eli says jumping up from the table as he starts running toward the door

"Hey don't forget that you promised Emily an Uncle and Niece night tonight" Melinda says as Eli is heading out the door

"So kind of like a sleepover" Emily says as she bounces on the bed in the garage apartment as Melinda pulls some sheets out of the dryer

"Yea it's kind of like that" Melinda says as she brings the sheets over to the bed "now stop bouncing and help mommy get these on the bed"

Later that evening Delia and Melinda are sitting on the couch in the living room "So you haven't told her" Delia says taking a sip of tea

"I don't know what to tell her, how do you tell your child something like that" Melinda says looking at her "As far as she knows this is just a big sleepover"

"That might be the best thing to let her assume" Delia says as she looks at her "Where is Emily now?" she says looking around

"She is spending quality time with Uncle Eli" Melinda says grining at her "I figured it would give me some time to get a better understanding of what's happening"

"Mommy we're back" they hear as the door opens as Emily comes bounding in followed by Eli carrying his things

"Hi" Melinda says pulling Emily onto her lap "Did you have fun night with Uncle Eli?"

"Yea we went to the umbrella room for dinner and then we got ice cream" Emily says excitedly looking at Melinda "And then I went to Uncle Eli's class and Maddison fixed my hair look" she says showing them her hair in a braid "And she taught me how to whistle listen" she says putting her figures to her mouth letting out a small whistle

"Yea she taught her that right in the middle of my lecture" Eli says sitting in a chair beside the couch "Maddison apperently doubles as my teachers assistant and baby sitter"

"Well little miss let's go get you ready for bed" Melinda says as she stands up holding Emily as they head towards the stairs

Later that night Melinda comes down the stairs as she sees a light on in the living room as she walks in she sees Eli sitting on his matress with his laptop open and surrounded by papers with earbuds in his ears "Hi" she says pulling an earbud out of his ear

"Oh hey" Eli says as he looks up from his laptop as Melinda sits down on the couch "What are you doing down here?"

"Well I wanted to take a break from the arguing" Melinda says as Eli gives her a confused look "I told Jim before he went back to work that Dan was following him, and apparently Dan was going around pinching nurses and Jim said it was inappropriate , and Dan is saying that if noone can see him then he might as well have some fun"

"I take it you finally got Emily down then" Eli says giving Melinda a look "She was wide open tonight"

"That probably has something to do with the fact that she had ice cream" Melinda says looking at him "She is definatly an Uncle's girl though, you know she told me the other day that she wants to be a shrink like her Uncle Eli"

"Well maybe I can talk her out of that" Eli says looking up at her before looking back at his laptop

"Okay before you go killing your niece's dreams" Melinda says giving him a half smile "Have things really been that bad, I know you said you've been under alot of stress the last couple weeks"

"I have five classes this semester, and apperently being the most qualified grief councelor with the explosion at that factory a couple weeks ago killing all those employees, and then trying to finish the new book" Eli says looking up at her "This is the only time I get to work on class work, the last few nights I've been lucky to go to sleep before four in the morning" he continues as Melinda gives him a look "And then there's been the ghost of a mother to one of the professors, but he's been gone for a while and I've been trying to explain that he doesn't work there anymore"

"Well I can help you with ghost" Melinda says as she gets off the couch picking up one of the papers "But the rest is up to you" she says looking confused at the paper as she hands it back to Eli

"At least we don't have to worry about the shadows taking me over" Eli says looking at her "If I get any sleep tonight" he says as Melinda gets ready to go back upstairs

"Emily" Aiden says as he comes down the hall early the next morning as Emily begins walking down the stairs seeming to be in a trance "Where are you going?" he says running down the stairs as Emily heads for the door

"What's going on?" Eli says starting to sit up hearing the footsteps

"Something's going on with Emily" Aiden says yelling back as Eli gets up going after them

"Woah" Aiden says as they step out onto the pourch as he sees shines along with other spirts standing in front of them


End file.
